John Wick series

(Amazon Streaming, December 2020) Every new John Wick instalment is bigger, slicker, longer and more expressionistic – at least from an action/visual standpoint, albeit not so much from a narrative one. In John Wick 3: Parabellum, we pick up where the second left off – with the entire world of assassins gunning for Wick after he’s been declared excommunicado. This, of course, ends up being a license for John Wick to kill more people, starting with a book and then moving on to other weaponry, improvised or otherwise. True to form for stuntman-turned-director Chad Stahelski, the action is meticulously choreographed, set in visually distinct environments, employing dozens of small gags to make sure it doesn’t all blur into undistinguishable “and then they fight” sequences. Surprisingly colourful for an action film, Paralleum also throws in several directorial flourishes (the extended long shots being only the most obvious) for a result that feels far more deliberate (and maximal-effort) than countless other similar assassin-versus-assassin films. The set design is also exceptional – and it’s very satisfying to see a humble Commodore computer used at the Suicide-Girl switchboard. Where the film doesn’t do as well, alas, is at the script level. Sure, it’s not bad – the dialogue is polished, the narrative moves its pieces with style, and the actors get some great characterization to play with. But at the overarching narrative level, John Wick 3 ends in more or less the same place as it began, the canvas betting bigger but not the composition within. It’s still loads of fun – there isn’t a better action series going around outside of The Fast and the Furious—but let’s hope that the inevitable John Wick 4 gets some degree of evolution or closure.